Hand washing is an important practice for limiting the spread of disease and infection within hospitals. Most hospitals have a “wash-in, wash-out” policy in which hospital staff members, such as doctors and nurses, are required to wash their hands both before entering a patient's room and after leaving it. Unfortunately, compliance with such policies is typically only in the 50 to 60% range.
Because of the low compliance with wash-in, wash-out policies, several hospitals have installed sophisticated hygiene compliance systems that automatically track staff members and their hand washing habits. In such systems, each staff member wears an identification badge that is automatically scanned by the system when the staff member enters or exits a patient room. The system detects whether or not soap was dispensed to the staff member and then logs whether or not the staff member washed his or her hands.
While such hygiene compliance systems can be effective, they have several inherent drawbacks. As a first matter, these systems are relatively complex and are, therefore, relatively expensive to purchase and install. In addition, some staff members do not appreciate being individually monitored by the system and feel as though it is too intrusive. Furthermore, these systems only work for individuals who are wearing a badge. Therefore, they are ineffective in relation to staff members who are not wearing their badge or members of the general public, such as patient family members.
In view of the above discussion, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have an alternative system and method for encouraging individuals to wash their hands in hospital settings.